COMBO

Combo Records was founded in 1951 in Los Angeles/Hollywood by jazz trumpeter and producer Jake Porter, who set up a small recording studio in the basement of his home. From the start, the label focused on West Coast club music: horn-driven jump rhythm and blues, small-combo jazz and blues, recorded by musicians active around Central Avenue. The first known release is Combo 1, Jake Porter’s own “Slowly Go Out Of Your Mind / Corn Pone Boogie,” issued on 10-inch 78 rpm in late 1951 and generally treated as the effective birth of the label. Over the next few years Combo built a catalogue of 78-rpm singles by artists such as Joe Houston, Jack McVea and Floyd Turnham, with Porter himself regularly appearing as bandleader or sideman.

By around 1954/55 the dedicated 78-rpm phase was largely over, with catalogue numbers reaching roughly Combo 64 (including Gene & Eunice’s important early version of “Ko Ko Mo,” issued both on 78 and 45). From the mid-1950s onward, new material appeared mainly on 7-inch 45-rpm singles and a small number of LPs. Musically, Combo gradually shifted from mainly instrumental jump R&B toward a stronger emphasis on vocal groups and doo-wop, while still issuing some straight R&B instrumentals. Discographical evidence shows new singles being released at least until about 1959 (up to roughly Combo 155). Written sources then describe Combo as active into the early 1960s, with some accounts stating that Porter finally closed the label and business operations around the mid-1960s.